Physically-challenged passengers, whether permanently or temporarily disabled, often find it difficult to go aboard and disembark an aircraft. Wheelchair-bound passengers often face difficult problems when traveling between a terminal and their aircraft seat. This is particularly true when there are no access ramps between the terminal and the aircraft. For example, commuter aircraft generally cannot use access ramps that larger airports use. To go aboard or disembark an aircraft, therefore, a physically-challenged passenger may have to enter the aircraft by ascending a set of steps adjacent the aircraft. Ascending stairs, however, is, in most cases, a serious impediment to passengers who use a wheelchair.
Physically-challenged passengers are therefore either denied use of such aircraft as a means for transportation or face the hazard and embarrassment of being manually lifted up a flight of stairs into the aircraft. Denying the passenger use of the aircraft makes no sense from a business perspective. As important as is this business concern, from a legal or regulatory standpoint as well, access for handicapped or physically-challenged persons is important. For example, new Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations require that airlines provide to physically-challenged passengers aircraft access. See DOT Advisory Circular entitled, Guide Specification for Lifts Used to Board Airlines Passengers with Mobility Impairments, AC No. 150/5220-21, dated Feb. 10, 1993. Manually lifting a passenger includes the hazard of the passenger being dropped by the ground personnel and the ground personnel being injured from the stress and strain of lifting the passenger.
Passenger lifts that exist are typically self-powered vehicles in which a driver must sit and steer and include complex motors or engines, drive trains, lift mechanisms, emission control systems, electrical systems, and other complex systems. The complexity of known passenger lifts makes them expensive to build or purchase, as well as difficult and expensive to maintain. The high acquisition and maintenance costs of previously developed passenger lifts makes them unacceptable for airlines and air terminals that are continually trying to operate more economically.
Therefore, a need has arisen for an economical passenger lift for physically-challenged persons.
A need exists for a passenger lift for physically-challenged persons that safely lifts a person into an aircraft while posing no risk of injury to ground personnel.
An additional need exists for a lift for a physically-challenged passenger that has a simple design requiring minimal maintenance.